Value stream mapping for sustainable change at a Swedish dairy farm

Abstract

This case study increases our understanding of Lean implementation in which value stream mapping (VSM) is used to create an action plan at a small dairy and cattle farm in southwest Sweden. The researchers, the farmer-owner, and farm employees followed a step-by-step approach that resulted in ideas for operational improvements for the dairy activity. Data were collected in interviews with the farmer/owner, researcher participation in workshops, and researcher observations. The results reveal that VSM is an effective way to create a culture of collaboration among the farm staff and to better define their roles and responsibilities as well as improve routines, communications, and task completion. In the two-to-three year period following the VSM project, specific improvements were observed in milk production/quality and animal health. The results also reveal that while Lean principles are relevant given the repetitive nature of agriculture routines and tasks, the VSM element of lead-time reduction is less relevant owing to the unique value adding biological processes in the agriculture sector.

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“…Few studies reported the concrete impact of lean practice implementation (Melin & Barth, 2020), except for the output projection of modelling-based research (Solano, Guisselle, Jairo, & Luis, 2020). Most research only evaluated the impacts based on case studies, action research, or perception-based impact evaluations with low generalisability.…”

“…This section discusses a thematic analysis based on emerging topics in the literature. An analysis of lean tools and techniques in the collected literature shows the dominant use of VSM to reduce waste (Barth & Melin, 2018;de Steur et al, 2016;Folinas et al, 2014;Melin & Barth, 2020;Taylor, 2006;Vlachos, 2015). This tool allows visualisation of the overall and detailed process in organisations and supply chains.…”

“…Thus, a future map with the elimination of waste and improvement to the activity in order to add value for customers was developed. Melin and Barth (2020) applied this tool to a dairy farm to create an action plan with the aim of minimising food waste and increasing the sustainability performance of the farm. Other tools, such as define measure analysis implement control (DMAIC), were used to achieve the objective of Lean Six Sigma (Kolawole et al, 2021).…”

“…Despite the collaboration of actors along the chain, past studies suggested frequent and substantial food wastage throughout the process and the supply chain (Das, 2019;de Steur et al, 2016) in addition to a high risk of the loss of nutrients (Wesana et al, 2018). Therefore, there is an urgent need to reduce wastage while contributing more value to customers, making the industry more productive and profitable (Melin & Barth, 2020).…”

A simulation-based performance investigation of downstream operations in the Indian Surimi Supply Chain using environmental value stream mapping

“…VSM is adopted as a primary tool for implementing improvements by identifying operational wastes and oversees the material and information flow used to design the system (Rother and Shook, 2003). Efficacious applications of VSM in food supply chains have been reported in the literature with VSM used in enhancing operational performance of food processing industries in Ghana (Pokuaa-Duah and Nadarajah, 2020); tomato supply chain in Greece (Anastasiadis et al, 2020); dairy industry (Melin and Barth, 2020), Agri-food supply chain (Kumar and Kushwaha, 2015) etc.. Mapping is generally proceeded by the process of waste identification using Kaizens. Focusing on waste reductions and operation improvements (Kumar et al, 2018), Kaizens or continuous improvement have been accepted worldwide with its practical competency of combining waste elimination tools and techniques effectively (Melcher et al, 1990).…”